I made this world years ago for a D&D campaign. It's inspired by Near - Eastern Mythology, BS Zachariah Sitchin made up about Near - Eastern Mythology, and the book of Genesis. It's much darker than I normally like, but *Elden Ring had just come out, and we were in the mood for dark fantasy. If you want to use it for a campaign, feel free!*
Caladron
Long ages ago, there was no sun nor moon. There was no grass nor tree; no beasts which breathe. Neither were there men or elves or dwarves. All of Caladron was dark and murky, covered by the waters of the Great Deep.
In the high Heavens sat Rummani, the king of the gods. He gazed upon the earth and beheld its riches. So he called his sons and said unto them:
"Behold Caladron, so rich with silver and gold. Let us take her for our own, and thereby make ourselves richer than any in the heavens above or the waters below."
So they came to the Earth, and wrought a great dome above it, which men name the firmament. It kept back the Waters, and dry land appeared. They thought to work the land themselves, but the gods were proud and slothful. So Rummani said unto them:
"Come, let us fashion mortal man, and let him work the earth for us."
So they forged the mortal races from clay, and they breathed the breath of life into their nostrils. To feed us, they made the plants and beasts. And they set great lights in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth and serve as signs of changing seasons.
Rummani ruled over the mortals ruthlessly, making us toil without ceasing until we were old and spent. His sons saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, so they took them as wives and concubines. And soon they bore children: demigods and giants, great heroes of old.
But far off sat Lotan, the Leviathan, the lord of the deep. He saw how Rummani's sons had raised the firmament and dried Caladron, and he grew furious. So he made war upon the Earth, endeavoring to bring the waters back to Caladron once more.
He coiled around the earth like a great snake, he prepared to crush the sky and blot out the world. The Earth shook, people screamed, stars fell from the heavens. But, Rummani was roused to wrath, and he set upon Lotan. They battled long and hard, perhaps for an age of men. But, as it seemed all was lost, Rummani wrought a great enchantment--perhaps the most great and terrible in all the history of the world. He cast Lotan into a deep sleep, so deep that he almost seemed dead. This curse he bound to five great rubies. So long as they remained intact, Lotan would remain dormant. One he hid in the West, one in the East, one in the North, and one in the South. The last he buried, in the caves of Motrandar, where dead men go.
And so the gods ruled Caladron for millennia. But, as the ages wore on, gold grew rarer and rarer. For awhile, they worked their slaves even harder, trying to sate their greed. But, slowly, they admitted that Caladron was emptied of riches. And that was the day the gods abandoned us.
The world first collapsed into anarchy, but that was soon to pass. The West fell under the rule of an ambitious and paranoid Witch. In the South rose a gluttonous cannibal king. The East is ruled by the Necromancer, and the North is ruled by a proud frost giant.
For the last six thousand years, they have fought a pointless total war. Cities have been razed, fields are left fallow. The land is cursed and haunted by phantoms.
Men desperately pray for the gods' return, women prostitute themselves to idols. Dwarves dig deep and greedily, seeking gold to lure back the gods, only to waken demons of the underworld. It seems as though all of Caladron is winding down. In ancient days, men could live a thousand years. Now, they live but a few decades. Every day, the night is longer; every year, the Summer's shorter. Most ominously, a small cult has begun a quest to awaken Lotan and destroy the world. Already, they have one of Rummani's Rubies, and the serpent has grown restless. Sometimes he tosses and turns in his sleep, making the world quiver like a cornered animal. He has already rent some small cracks in the sky, flooding low - lying towns with dark waters. Sometimes he groans or sighs, making men cover their ears and children scream.
The fate of the world is uncertain. If no one stops them, the cult with crush the rubies and blot out the world. Or perhaps they will be foiled, and Caladron will endure a little while longer. As it stands, none can say.
This is a map of Caladron I made at the time. I'm afraid it contains my handwriting (and, even worse, my handwriting from High School). But, I guess you can't have everything ¯_(ツ)_/¯